{"id":10443,"date":"2023-03-04T15:52:26","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T15:52:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/?p=10443"},"modified":"2025-09-10T15:23:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T15:23:00","slug":"who-is-hans-peter-luhn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/who-is-hans-peter-luhn","title":{"rendered":"Who is Hans Peter Luhn?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-transparent ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Alternar tabla de contenidos\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/who-is-hans-peter-luhn\/#biography_of_hans_peter_luhn\" >Biography of Hans Peter Luhn\u00a0<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/who-is-hans-peter-luhn\/#the_luhn_algorithm\" >The Luhn algorithm<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/who-is-hans-peter-luhn\/#how_does_the_luhn_algorithm_work\" >How does the Luhn algorithm work?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/en\/who-is-hans-peter-luhn\/#luhn_and_business_intelligence\" >Luhn and Business Intelligence<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span><p>Have you ever heard of Hans Peter Luhn? Well, if you are into the world of blockchain technology, your answer is probably yes. If not, we invite you to read on, as Luhn is undoubtedly a personality who has contributed greatly to today\u2019s technology.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you are curious about his story and the contributions he made to the cryptocurrency universe, below\u00a0<strong>we will reveal who Hans Peter Luhn is<\/strong>\u00a0and what this German computer scientist contributed to the world of cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col small-12 large-12\">\n<div class=\"col-inner\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"biography_of_hans_peter_luhn\"><\/span><strong>Biography of Hans Peter Luhn\u00a0<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_117161286\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-original size-original lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui%C3%A9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1-300x205.jpg 300w\" alt=\"Qui\u00e9n es Hans Peter luhn Bitnovo\" width=\"768\" height=\"526\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1-300x205.jpg 300w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Qui\u00e9n-es-Hans-Peter-luhn1.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<p>Hans Peter Luhn was born in Barmen, Germany, on July 1, 1896. After finishing high school, he moved to Switzerland to learn the trade of commercial printing in order to join the family business. However, his career was interrupted to serve in the German army during World War I, where he served as a communications officer.<\/p>\n<p>After the war Luhn traveled to the United States where he worked in the textile industry. There he gave birth to his first invention, the\u00a0<strong>Lunometer<\/strong>, a yarn counter that is still on the market. Among the more than 80 patents he was granted,<strong>\u00a0Luhn was the creator of the KWIC (Key Words In Context)<\/strong>\u00a0indexing and is mainly known for being\u00a0<strong>the inventor of what is known today as the Luhn Algorithm<\/strong>, whose objective is to detect errors in the transcription of digits.<\/p>\n<p><b>In 1941 he joined IBM\u00a0<\/b>as a senior research engineer and later became manager of the Information Retrieval Research Division.<\/p>\n<p><strong>His entry into the world of information science<\/strong>\u00a0dates back to 1947, when he was asked to work on a problem presented to\u00a0<strong>IBM<\/strong>\u00a0that involved searching for chemical compounds recorded in coded form. As a solution to the problem Luhn used punch cards.<\/p>\n<p>In the 1950s he began to devote ever more time to\u00a0<strong>the problems of information retrieval and storage<\/strong>\u00a0that libraries and documentation centers frequently encountered.<\/p>\n<p>Luhn decided to apply the statistical calculation of the words from the texts in order to establish which words appeared more frequently than others, thus becoming a valid tool for text retrieval.<\/p>\n<p>Undoubtedly, this discovery had a significant influence on the development of\u00a0<strong>the Information Retrieval discipline and automatic indexing.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Today we can say that\u00a0<strong>Luhn was one of the first to develop many of the techniques common in information science.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>These techniques include full text processing, hash codes, auto indexing, automatic abstraction.<\/p>\n<p>However, there are two contributions that had great repercussions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><strong>The selective dissemination of information service (SDI)<\/strong>. This is an automatic method involving the use of the computer to select, among a flow of new documents, those of interest to each of several users, that is, with the relevant information they need in their work, discriminating the irrelevant.<\/li>\n<li>The creation of the\u00a0<strong>KWIC index<\/strong>, a tool used for indexing that became an indispensable method in the creation of\u00a0<strong>tesauros.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"col small-12 large-12\">\n<div class=\"col-inner text-center\">\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"the_luhn_algorithm\"><\/span>The Luhn algorithm<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<p>The Luhn algorithm or Luhn formula,\u00a0<strong>also known as the \u201cmodulo 10\u201d or \u201cmod 10\u201d algorithm<\/strong>, is a simple checksum formula used to validate a variety of identification numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Today this algorithm\u00a0<strong>is widely used for credit cards<\/strong>, national ID numbers or social security numbers.<\/p>\n<p>This invention was registered in the United States under Patent No. 2,950,048 on August 23, 1960.<\/p>\n<p>However, Luhn\u2019s algorithm\u00a0<strong>was not designed to protect against malicious attacks but to protect against accidental errors<\/strong>, that is, it was created as a simple method to distinguish valid numbers from misspelled or incorrect numbers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_550912404\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn.jpg 423w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn-187x300.jpg 187w\" alt=\"El algoritmo de Luhn -patente\" width=\"423\" height=\"679\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn.jpg 423w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn-187x300.jpg 187w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-luhn.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 423px) 100vw, 423px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"how_does_the_luhn_algorithm_work\"><\/span>How does the Luhn algorithm work?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"col small-12 large-12\">\n<div class=\"col-inner\">\n<p>Luhn\u2019s formula checks a number with its check digit included. This number is added to a partial account number to generate the full account number.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s make a practical example with the number of a bank card with the following number: 40036000000000000014<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"row-952150395\" class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col small-12 large-12\">\n<div class=\"col-inner text-center\">\n<div id=\"image_1039636272\" class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\">\n<div class=\"img-inner dark\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-large size-large lazyloaded\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1024x593.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1024x593.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-768x445.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1536x889.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn.jpg 2000w\" alt=\"algoritmo de luhn Bitnovo\" width=\"1020\" height=\"591\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1024x593.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-300x174.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-768x445.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1536x889.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn.jpg 2000w\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/algoritmo-de-luhn-1024x593.jpg\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<p>For the number to be valid it will have to pass the following test:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>First, starting from the rightmost digit and moving to the left, double the value of each second digit.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><b><i>The check digit (the last 4 highlighted in blue in the image) is not duplicated or included in this calculation.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>4003600000000014<\/p>\n<p>1\u00a0x 2 +\u00a00\u00a0x 2 +\u00a00\u00a0x 2 +\u00a00\u00a0x 2 +\u00a00\u00a0x 2 +\u00a06\u00a0x 2\u00a0+\u00a00\u00a0x 2 +\u00a04\u00a0x 2<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>If the result of this process is greater than 9 (as in the case of 6\u00d72), add the digits of the result (e.g., 12: 1 + 2).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>= 2 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 +\u00a01\u00a0+ 2\u00a0+ 0 + 8 = 13<\/p>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>The sum derived must be added to the sum of the digits that were not duplicated.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>13\u00a0+ 4 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 3 + 0 = 20<\/p>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>If the last digit of the total is 0, then the set of numbers is valid.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>In this case, the last digit of 20 is 0. So, the card number is correct.<\/p>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"luhn_and_business_intelligence\"><\/span>Luhn and Business Intelligence<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<div class=\"is-divider divider clearfix\"><\/div>\n<p>We conclude by recalling another important contribution that Hans Peter Luhn made to technology. Luhn was also the first person to use the term\u00a0<strong>Business Intelligence.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In an article \u201cA Business Intelligence System\u201d published in 1958 he mentioned this term for the first time and defined it as: \u201cthe ability to learn the relationships of facts presented in such a way as to guide actions toward a desired goal\u201d. Despite being a very basic version, it was an important precursor to one of today\u2019s most important technologies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Tiempo de lectura:<\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 4<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutos<\/span><\/span>Have you ever heard of Hans Peter Luhn? Well, if you are into the world of blockchain technology, your answer is probably yes. If not, we invite you to read on, as Luhn is undoubtedly a personality who has contributed greatly to today\u2019s technology. So, if you are curious about his story and the contributions [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrencies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10443"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24655,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10443\/revisions\/24655"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bitnovo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}